On Monday, two longstanding members of PocketFives captured their second bracelets at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. First, David Bakes Baker, who has nearly $1.4 million in career WSOP earnings, found gold in a $10,000 HORSE event (#32) for $451,000. The final table was a blockbuster, as six of the nine players seated were bracelet winners.Many players in the poker community had their eyes locked on a pair of "Phils" in Event #32, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, who finished fifth and fourth, respectively. Hellmuth had already captured gold at this year's WSOP for a record-setting 12th bracelet, while Ivey reached his fourth final table of the 2012 WSOP. Needless to say, those two have been at the top of their games in recent weeks.
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On the star-studded final nine in the HORSE event, Baker told WSOP officials, "There’s definitely more pressure. The stage is packed, everyone is watching, and the two most famous players in the game [Ivey and Hellmuth] are right there. So yeah, the spotlight is on and you don't want to make a bad play, you don't want to make a mistake, and the money adds to the pressure. Definitely a higher standard of play was required this time."
The final table lasted for nine hours and its members had a combined 25 bracelets, the second highest mark for a WSOP final table this year.
On mastering the five games that comprise HORSE to defeat some of the game's top names, Baker remarked, "When I started playing these games, No Limit was getting really stale for me and I didn't want to play it. Playing a bunch of different games keeps me fresh and keeps me interested in the game of poker. I'm happy that I was able to get to a high level at these games…. So, I just have a lot of fun with it playing the different games and I'm happy that the practice has paid off."
2012 bracelet winner John Monnette held a slight chip lead over Baker entering heads-up play. Baker overtook Monnette in Stud after making a pair of aces and the seesaw battle continued. Down the stretch, Baker made jacks and nines in Stud to cripple Monnette, whose remaining chips went in on the very next hand. Baker made trips on the final card for the win and Monnette mucked.
Monnette climbed atop the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year race with a first, second, and third place finish so far this year. Here were the final table results from the $10,000 HORSE event:
1. David Bakes Baker - $451,779
2. John Monnette - $279,206
3. Paul Sokoloff - $183,784
4. Phil Hellmuth - $134,056
5. Phil Ivey - $99,739
6. Abe Mosseri - $75,511
7. Matt mjw006 Waxman - $58,093
8. Dan djk123 Kelly - $45,360
Also winning his second gold bracelet at the Rio was Carter Bdybldngpkrplyr Phillips (pictured), who came out on top in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event for $664,000. His first piece of hardware came two years ago in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Six-Max event and, this time around, Phillips had to fend off former WSOP Main Event champ and fellow PocketFiver Joe jcada99 Cada heads-up.Cada held nearly a 3:1 lead on Phillips when heads-up play began, but the former European Poker Tour Barcelona champ doubled through fairly quickly with A-Q against K-10 to take a 2:1 edge. Cada then won a coin flip with pocket sevens against A-Q to regain the lead, but Phillips responded by doubling through after turning a set of nines against Cada's top pair.
The drama continued, as Cada doubled up with pocket nines against A-10, but the PokerStars pro was bumped from the tournament shortly thereafter with 9-7 offsuit against Phillips' Q-J offsuit. Cada was drawing to six outs by the river and couldn't connect, shipping Phillips his second WSOP bracelet. Phillips is up to $1.2 million in career WSOP earnings.
Cada (pictured) was gunning to become the first Main Event champion in the post-Chris Moneymaker era to follow up his Main Event title with a bracelet. The final table cashed out as follows:1. Carter Bdybldngpkrplyr Phillips -$664,130
2. Joe jcada99 Cada - $412,424
3. Tom Chambers - $290,875
4. Cherish Andrews - $210,083
5. Najib Kamand - $153,578
6. Maximilian Lehmanski - $113,618
7. Michael Aron - $85,043
8. Jonathan Poche - $64,399
9. Huy Quach - $49,333
Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players.
